


Of Broken Bones and Subtle Glances

by LovelyLiliana, TOG84



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU Yeah AUgust (Miraculous Ladybug), Adrien Knows (Eventually), Collaboration, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Miraculous Cure Doesn't Cure Everything AU, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-07-20 08:58:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16133966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyLiliana/pseuds/LovelyLiliana, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TOG84/pseuds/TOG84
Summary: During the attack of the akuma, The Grenadier, Marinette is injured before she can transform. When her miraculous cure fixes everything but her leg, she's forced to take time off from being Ladybug. She feels useless. A bonus for her though, Adrien's been spending a lot of time with her. She's super happy... Until he tells her about this other girl... Who sounds a lot like her?And now she's confused.If that wasn’t bad enough, he'd started acting differently, and she can't figure out why.And so is Chat!What is going on?





	1. Unexpected Attention

**Author's Note:**

> This is our first collab so thanks for joining us on this ride! We hope you enjoy this story!

Marinette hated Wednesdays more than she probably has reason for. But this one, this one she hated with a particular fervor. The searing pain shooting from her leg reminded her of this fact, as she sat behind a large display depicting the scene of a battle between French and English soldiers. What should have been a fun trip to the museum, turned into her worst nightmare. An akuma, going by the name The Grenadier, was upset over some misrepresentation of the French military in one exhibit or another, and decided to take it out on the whole museum.

The worst part was, the akuma wasn’t what caused her current situation. No, that was all her. Rushing for a safe place to transform, her clumsiness reared its ugly head, and she lost her footing, took a nasty fall.

“Tikki,” Marinette wheezed through the pain, “I think my leg is broken. What am I going to do? Chat is out there fighting the akuma. He needs me.”

The kwami watched her chosen with sadness in her eyes, “I can help support your leg,” she began, and her expression turned serious. “But you can’t overdo it. You’ll only make it worse.”

“Ok, Tikki,” Marinette braced herself, “Spots on!” She almost let out a contented moan as the pain in her leg all but disappeared. That is until she stood up. Pain shot through her broken leg, and she almost fell over, but she caught herself. The pain wasn’t as bad or overwhelming as before, but still present. She limped as quickly as she could back to the fight.

“Ah, nice of you to join us M’lady.” Chat said with a grin, “Our friend here has a rather _explosive_ temper, and I didn’t want to _set him off_.” He circled the akuma, until he was by her side. He looked back the way she came and turned back to her, eyes soft, all traces of mirth gone. He spoke in a low voice, “You didn’t see that girl, Marinette, back there, did you? I saw her take a nasty fall when I got here, but I haven’t had a chance to check on her.”

His concern for her civilian self, gave her a moment’s pause. It wasn’t common for him to give this kind of attention to any specific civilian’s safety. “Uh, yeah, I think she’ll be okay,” she said giving him a reassuring smile, “let’s take care of this akuma quickly, I don’t want to risk any permanent damage,” _to the building, or myself_ , she thought.

“As you wish M’lady,” the Cheshire grin returning, “I think the akuma is in his hat.”

It was the first time Ladybug had taken a good look at the akuma. He was wearing a historic French military uniform, with white trousers, black boots, a white vest, and a long blue coat. On his head was a blue kepi with a black visor. His epaulets were comically large on his shoulders and he had a large leather satchel slung across his chest which he was pulling small round explosive balls out of. His skin was a sickly purple and his eyes were solid red.

“Do you think you can distract him while I call my lucky charm?” she asked as she continued to assess the situation.

“Absolutely, M’lady,” he dipped into a flourishing bow, “it would be my _purr_ -leasure,” he wiggled his eyebrows before jumping back into action.

Once she called her lucky charm, a red and black spotted baseball bat, the fight was over rather quickly. They found that The Grenadier wasn’t immune to his own explosions when Chat, using the lucky charm, sent a grenade right back at him, knocking him out. Ladybug took the hat and tore it, releasing the akuma. She cleansed it with a “Bye bye, butterfly”, before throwing her lucky charm in the air with a “Miraculous Ladybug!” and watched the ladybugs restore all the damaged caused by the akuma.

“Pound it!” after their celebratory fist bump Ladybug saw Chat heading in the direction her civilian self was supposed to be, “Chat,” she called, and he looked back to her, “could you help this gentleman here, I need to go.” He looked back down the corridor, “you can check on the girl in a minute, it won’t take long to get this sorted out.”

“Of course, Bugaboo,” Chat said, heading back to the akuma victim, “until next time.” She walked away, trying to hide her limp as best as she could.

She made her way back to the display she had hid behind and released her transformation. Her leg gave out underneath her and she fell to the floor. _Should have sat down first_ , she groaned to herself, _real smart Marinette._

“Marinette are you going to be okay?” Tikki’s small voice pulled her from her grumbling, “I did all I could for your leg, but because it wasn’t caused by the akuma, the cure didn’t heal it.”

“It’s okay Tikki,” said with a pained smile, “it’s not the first broken bone I’ve ever had, and it probably won’t be the last.”

Tikki gave her a sad smile before looking to the side then bolting out of sight. “Marinette! Are you back there?” Chat’s voice caught her to momentarily still, before she remembered their earlier conversation.

“Yeah, I’m back here,” she groaned, “I’m a little stuck. I’m pretty sure my leg is broken.”

A mop of blond hair appeared around the display as Chat looked down at her. His face lit up as his eyes landed on her, “There you are _purr_ -incess,” shifting to concern as he registered the pained expression on her face, “let’s get you out of here. You really should see a doctor.” He helped her to her feet, but as she went to lean on him to hobble out, her feet suddenly left the ground, and she found herself being carried out of the museum. Chat carried her to the waiting ambulance and made sure to ask which hospital they would take her to, “So I can inform your friends,” he said. He bid her goodbye and headed back toward the museum.

“Marinette!” she was startled to hear the panic in Alya’s voice, “There you are!” relief softening her voice. Marinette looked up and spotted her friends running toward her, followed by Mme. Bustier. The paramedics gave the newcomers space to hug their friend before waving them away, so they could finish prepping her to take her to the hospital.

“So, Marinette,” Alya said, as the paramedics went to work, all signs of concern gone. Her face now sporting a mischievous grin, she continued, “care to explain how you got on such good terms with Chat Noir?” Alya held up her phone showing pictures of her being carried out of the building a few minutes ago, “Reports are already flooding my inbox,” she looked back at her phone and swiped a few times. “and who do you think told us where to find you?” she turned the phone back to her showing a video of Chat saying something she couldn’t hear to her friends. “He doesn’t normally pay this much attention to a specific civilian,”

“I- I don’t… I really…” she spluttered, searching for something to deflect the attention this odd behavior was getting. Honestly, she had no idea why Chat was treating her specially.

“Ok,” the paramedic cut in, Marinette breathed silent thanks to her savior, “time to go,” they moved the gurney to the ambulance and loaded her in. Never before had she been so thankful to be separated from her friends.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a long day. After she'd arrived at the hospital, they'd took some x-rays to confirm that yes, her leg was indeed broken. They'd fixed it up, putting her leg in a plaster splint, and telling her to take it easy. They'd informed her parents to make sure she kept pressure off her leg, so it'll be able to heal faster. Her parents were also given some pain meds she had to take every two hours. So now, here she was, lying on her chaise while Alya sat next to her. 

"So girl, what  _happened_ _?"_

"I fell during the attack..." 

"But I thought Ladybug's cure cures everything!"

"Apparently, everything except my leg." She laughed, though it was a little forced.

Luckily, that went unnoticed by Alya.

"So, girl, what do you wanna do? Being on bedrest, and all."

"I don't know. We could... Watch a movie?"

 

* * *

 

Marinette couldn't say she was exactly glad to go to school, the next day. For one, Chloe was definitely going to make a seen. However, on the bright side, she didn't have to participate in gym for the next two months or so. She didn't need anyone finding out about her secret, after all. The one thing she was dreading though, was her patrol with Chat tonight. She didn't need him finding out about her broken leg, and putting the pieces together... Finding out her identity. She'd have to come up with a cover story later. She made her way down the stairs slowly, with Alya's help.

"Ugh, I hate this. I'm going to have to waker up even _earlier_ , to get to school on time." Marinette groaned.

"Relax, girl. You're getting a doctors note, excusing any tardiness you have for however long you have that cast on." 

"That's great, I guess."

She finally made it down, only to groan once again at the time.

She wouldn't even have time for an actual breakfast.

Alya grabbed her a fruit tart, a macaron, and an apple, before they headed for school, waving to her parents.

She slowly munched on her food, while she listened to Alya's rant about yesterdays akuma. Sure, she'd been there, that's why she was currently walking to school, or more like hopping, and Alya's telling of the fight was really not helping her mood. But Alya clearly knew what might.

"Hey, Adrien!" She called.

"Hey, Alya."

He waved to her, and then turned to Marinette.

"Hey, Mari- What happened?"

"I- uh- um..."

"She fell during the akuma attack yesterday, and broke her leg." Alya supplied.

"I- I, uh, y- yeah." She blushed.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"Do you needing help?"

"I- I- um..." She looked at Alya.

"You know what? I really need to find Nino _right now_. You wouldn't mind helping Mari get to class would you?"

"Uh, no prob-"

"Thanks!"

She tossed him Mari's bag, before sprinting off to find her boyfriend.

"So... class?"

 

* * *

  

Helping Marinette get to class had been harder than he'd expected. For once in his life though, luck seemed to be on his side. Marinette on the other hand, was just glad that Chloe hadn't shown up to class yet. She really didn't need any comments right now. A minute before the bell however, Sabrina walked in, sans Chloe, which kind of put everyone in shock, because when were the two ever apart? 

"Um, Ms. Bustier? Chloe isn't coming to class today." Sabrina told the teacher quietly, though everyone still heard her.

The rest of Marinette's day was filled with work, work, and... more work. She was currently in her last class of the day, Ms. Mendeleiev's class. Seriously, who'll need chemistry in their life, after they graduate? She was over the moon happy when the bell rang, and she could  _finally_ go home, do her homework, video chat with Alya, and then patrol with Chat. She still couldn't believe Alya had left her with Adrien  _all day_. Not that it was a bad thing, per se, but it was difficult. How do you communicate with the person you've always stuttered around, in full sentences, when you're with them all day? He'd walked her back to the bakery, patted her shoulder, waved, and left, and then she entered the bakery. Her mother helped her into her room, before she left to once again help in the bakery. After she was sure her mom left, she let Tikki out of her purse.

"How was spending the day with Adrien, Marinette?"

"It was  _great_ , Tikki! But I was so focused on him, I kinda... sorta... wasn't actually paying attention in class. And  _now_ , I'm so gonna fail all my classes, and flunk out of school, and Adrien will never wanna talk to me again, and then we won't get married, and have three kids and a hamster, no a dog, no a cat, and-"

"Marinette! You'll be fine! I'm sure you will! Besides, can't Alya help you?"

'You're right, Tikki! What would I do without you?"

 

* * *

 

After her video chat with Alya, just doing homework, talking about their respective crushes, and talking in general, she hung up, and called out for Tikki.

"Are you sure about this Marinette? You could just transform in the bathroom, tell Chat your excuse, and not have to leave."

"I know, Tikki. But, I think I should tell him in person, y'know? Besides, you said being in the costume will help my leg, anyway."

She nodded.

"Just be careful, Marinette."

"Of course, Tikki. Spots On!"

 

* * *

 

Marinette arrived at their usual meeting place, early than usual. Its better to be early than late, right? To her surprise, Chat arrived only a minute later.

"M'lady... I didn't know you'd be here early, this  _feline_ evening."

"Actually, we kinda need to talk."

"What's up?"

"I kinda... broke my leg, while on a run. I fell down some stairs, and... Yeah."

"You could've just called me, you should be resting your leg!"

"I know, I know. But being in the suit actually helps my leg heal, and besides, I'd rather be here than cooped up in my room."

He smiled.

"You should really get back, LB. I got this covered."

"I'm sure you do, but we still need to talk. I mean... I can't really help you during battle, while my leg's healing. So, what are we gonna do?"


	3. Chapter 3

“So, what are we gonna do?" Ladybug was at a loss. How could she save Paris if she couldn’t fight the akumas? “Tikki won’t even let me transform after tonight unless you’ve already retrieved the akumatized item,” she glanced down, feeling embarrassment warm her cheeks, “She says I’m too likely to accidentally cause permanent damage,” she crossed her arms over her stomach, “even standing here is risky.”

“M’lady, you know I would do anything for you,” he moved closer, reaching his hand toward her shoulder. She flinched away, not prepared to deal with his affections right then, and overbalanced. _And this is how Ladybug meets her end_. Marinette lamented, but as soon as the thought entered her mind, her fall was stopped by a pair of strong leather clad arms that pulled her close, held her tight to her partner’s chest.

“Eep!” was her only response. Her eyes were drawn to Chat’s, and the concern and genuine care she saw there caused her heart to skip a beat. _Traitor! You like Adrien!_

“M’lady! You have to be more careful,” he said softly as he shifted her in his arms, so he could have a hand free. He gently moved a stray hair behind her ear. Ladybug couldn’t pull her gaze away from Chat’s. “Please, I will do anything, just let me help you,” utter devotion saturated his words, and she couldn’t look away.

Closing her eyes and shaking her head to regain control, she let Chat help her to her feet, “I won’t be suited up for a while, so there’s not much you can do,” she watched as the light in his eyes faded and sadness overtook his features.

“But Bugaboo, if we just…”

“You know we can’t reveal ourselves Chat Noir,” she cut him off, but the normal conviction in keeping their identities secret was missing. _What’s gotten into me?_ The sadness in his eyes doubled as he began to turn away. The despair she saw, the rejection, hit her like a brick wall. Something in her snapped, “But,” _Wait, what am I doing?_ She grabbed his shoulder to prevent him from leaving. He looked back at her confusion etched all over his face, “if you find me, civilian me,” _What am I saying?!_ His eyes lit up, a bit of his normal demeanor reasserting itself, “I would have not reason to turn down your help.” _Yep, I’ve lost my mind._

Chat’s eyes practically glowed with his smile lit up the rooftop they stood on, “Are you saying,”

_But look how happy he is,_

“that if I find your civilian self,”

_And he is kinda cute… Stop that!_

“you’ll admit it, and we can share our identities?”

_Well, it’s too late to turn back now…_

“Yeah, I guess I am,” she was surprised that she was actually okay with that, “A couple of rules though,” he looked so excited and focused on her intently.

“Of course, what rules would those be?”

“One,” She held up one finger, “no going around asking random girls if they are Ladybug.”

“Wait one second,” he held one hand up while the other worked the zipper on his pocket. He pulled out a nondescript notepad and pencil.

“You just happened to have a pencil and notepad on you?” She snorted a little as she laughed.

“You never know when good notes could save your life,” He said with a cheesy grin. He jotted what Ladybug believed was the first rule, “Carry on.”

“Okay, two,” she raised two fingers, “each time you see me as Ladybug, you can ask one yes or no question that I will answer honestly.”

“Mhm” he hummed, jotting another note.

“Three,” she held up a third finger, “no following me! That’s cheating!”

Chat sniggered, “Wouldn’t dream of it, Bugaboo. Where would the fun be in that?”

“And four,” she raised one more finger, “when you think you’ve found me, say ‘I have it on very good authority that spots are going to be in season this fall,’ and I’ll respond with ‘Really? I think cat ears would look cute on the runway.’”

“And then I’ll know who the beautiful, a- _meow_ -zing, smart girl is behind the mask,” he smiled blindingly at her and wiggled his eyebrows. Ladybug was pretty sure her mask wasn’t anywhere near big enough to hide the blush coloring her face.

“One last thing,” she continued as she fought to maintain her composure, “you have until my cast comes off,” Chat gasped, “if you haven’t found me by then, the deal is off, and we won’t reveal our identities.”

Looking a bit less excited, but all the more determined, Chat made eye contact with Ladybug, “Oh, don’t worry, Bugaboo, I'll _sniff_ you out,” he winked at her, leaning in close.

She pushed him away by the nose, “none of that, you’ve got work to do and I need to get home and off my feet.”

“As you wish, M’lady,” he took her hand and placed a soft kiss on its back, “I’ll _cat_ -ch you later,” he stood, gave her a two-finger salute and leapt away.  
After she watched him go, she carefully made her way home. She gently lowered herself through her roof hatch and laid on her bed. Once she was off her feet, she dropped her transformation. Tikki flew out of her earrings and landed on her outstretched hand.

“Are you sure about letting Chat look for you?” Tikki said with a look of genuine concern.

“If you had asked me that yesterday,” Marinette began, “I would have said absolutely not, but tonight, it felt like the right thing to do.”

“What do you think changed?” Tikki smiled coyly.

“I don’t know,” Marinette whined covering her face with her pillow. After a few seconds she removed the pillow, “I’ve been so hung up on Adrien, but Chat has been so good to me from the start,” she sighed and smiled, “He’s sweet, and kind, and smart, and funny…” she frowned, “But I still have feelings for Adrien... Am I a bad person for liking two people?”

“Oh, Marinette,” Tikki giggled, “it's perfectly normal to like more than one person. It’s how you act on those feelings that changes things.”

“So, it’s okay that I like Chat?” relief crept into her voice.

“Mhm.” Tikki hummed.

“And it’s okay if he finds out who I am?” Marinette avoided Tikki’s eyes.

“Oh Marinette, it’ll be just fine,” Tikki flew up to Marinette’s face and rubbed her cheek, “It was your choice, and I think it’s a good time.”

“Thanks, Tikki,” Marinette hugged her kwami, “you’re the best!”

Marinette snuggled down into her blankets, “Goodnight Tikki.”

“Goodnight Marinette.”

**Author's Note:**

> We would love to hear what you think, so please leave your comments below!
> 
> Also, check out tog84's tumbler [here](https://tog84.tumblr.com/).  
> And Lily's [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lovelyliliana101)! (:


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